...in homes of the railroad earth when high in the sky the magic stars ride above the hotshot freight trains...
-Jack Kerouac, "October in the Railroad Earth"

Monday, March 04, 2013

My Dickens Challenge novel is almost here!

Back when I was a much more active
blogger, I participated in The Dickens Challenge, begun by mystery
writer Tim Hallinan, author of the acclaimed Poke Rafferty novels.
The idea was to write a novel the way Dickens did—one chapter a
week, with no going back and revising. It was a wonderful exercise,
and I read some topnotch writing, including that of Tim himself. My
own effort, initially titled Things Done and Left Undone, after
more than several revisions, is under contract with Taylor Street
Books of San Francisco, under the working title of See You
in Chicago.

The idea for the
book came as a result of a novel writing contest held by White Wolf
Press,h was held to promote two of its popular role-playing games in
the World of Darkness series. The vampire world was set in Chicago,
so I came up with an idea for a novel that took place during the 1968
Democratic Convention. My novel proposal did not make the first cut,
but I couldn't let go of the idea of a story set in the that time and
place.

While
I still wanted to do paranormal fiction, I was glad to abandon the
vampires and set my book in the world of magic. And magical powers
are very limited, in this world. As a journeyman mage says to the
book's protagonist, “That's
the trouble with magic, or maybe its saving grace. We're not gods,
even though there are some in the trade who think they are. Sometimes
I wish I had unlimited power, but I couldn't trust myself with it.
Lord Acton was right: 'Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power
corrupts absolutely.'”

The
story is set in a dystopian 21st Century, in which the United States
has become the fundamentalist Christian Republic of America, but
through a complicated series of events, the scene shifts to Chicago,
August, 1968.

The
protagonist, Thomas Leirmont, an idealistic young reporter, falls in
love with a beautiful and mysterious young woman, Helena McKechnie,
whose mother was a Zoroastrian Parsi and a descendent of of the
Persian magi. Thomas must face a test, and his enemies, aided by
Asmodeus, Prince of Lust and King of the Seven Hells, are doing their
best to see that he fails. But he has powerful allies in Helena, two
journeyman wizards, and benevolent spirits from beyond the grave.